RISING 8th GRADE: READ 3 BOOKS TOTAL;​4th Optional(Everyone reads: Farewell to Manzanar, Select 2 from Theme List "Girls Around the World", and a 4th optional choice book from the 8th Grade Recommended Books List in Destiny, or a book of your choice.)

All students are required to read Farewell to Manzanar by James D. Houston and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. Two additional summer reading books must be books from the list, “Girls Around the World.” You are also encouraged to have a fourth summer reading (choice) book can be any book you choose (with parental approval).

Guiding Questions: What makes a girl successful? What makes a girl strong?

The 8th grade teachers require you to select key quotations (about themes, events, or passages relating to the guiding questions above) and highlight them in the 3 required reading books. You also must keep notes on your quotes, and/or specific examples from the text that correspond with the guiding questions. (You do not have to highlight or keep notes on your choice book.)_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

***REQUIRED READING:***

Farewell to Manzanar James D. Houston and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

During World War II a community called Manzanar was created in the high mountain desert country of California. Its purpose was to house thousands of Japanese Americans. Among them was the Wakatsuki family, who were ordered to leave their fishing business in Long Beach and take with them only the belongings they could carry. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, who was seven years old when she arrived at Manzanar in 1942, recalls life in the camp through the eyes of the child she was. First published in 1973, this classic memoir of a devastating Japanese American experience includes an inspiring afterword by the authors.

***THEME "GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD": CHOOSE 2 OR MORE:***

The Gangster We are All Looking Forlê thi diem thúy

In 1966 Ji-Li Jiang turned twelve. An outstanding student and leader, she had everything: brains, the admiration of her peers, and a bright future in China's Communist Party. But that year China's leader, Mao Ze Dong, launched the Cultural Revolution, and everything changed. Over the next few years Ji-Li and her family were humiliated and scorned by former friends, neighbors, and co-workers. They lived in constant terror of arrest. Finally, with the detention of her father, Ji-Li faced the most difficult choice of her life. Told with simplicity and grace, this is the true story of one family's courage and determination during one of the most terrifying eras of the twentieth century.

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​Red Scarf GirlJi-Li Jiang

In 1966 Ji-Li Jiang turned twelve. An outstanding student and leader, she had everything: brains, the admiration of her peers, and a bright future in China's Communist Party. But that year China's leader, Mao Ze Dong, launched the Cultural Revolution, and everything changed. Over the next few years Ji-Li and her family were humiliated and scorned by former friends, neighbors, and co-workers. They lived in constant terror of arrest. Finally, with the detention of her father, Ji-Li faced the most difficult choice of her life. Told with simplicity and grace, this is the true story of one family's courage and determination during one of the most terrifying eras of the twentieth century.

Code Girls (Young Reader's Edition)Liza Mundy

More than ten thousand women served as codebreakers during World War II, recruited by the U.S. Army and Navy. While their brothers and boyfriends took up arms, these women moved to the nation's capital to learn the top secret art of code breaking. Through their work, the "code girls" helped save countless lives and were vital in ending the war. But due to the top secret nature of their accomplishments, these women have never been able to talk about their story--until now. Through dazzling research and countless interviews with the surviving code girls, Liza Mundy brings their story to life with zeal, grace, and passion.

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Inside Out and Back Again Thanhha Lai

​Hà is a ten year-old girl living in Saigon, Vietnam, when the Vietnam War reaches her home and forces her family to flee to America. There, Hà must learn to adapt to her new environment, which includes learning all new customs, practices, and a completely new language. Based on the author’s own experience, this verse novel explores the hardships of being a refugee and an outcast during a time of war.

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When My Name was Keoko​Linda Sue Park

Sun-hee and her older brother, Tae-yul, live in Korea with their parents. Because Korea is under Japanese occupation, the children study Japanese and speak it at school. Their own language, their flag, the folktales Uncle tells them—even their names—are all part of the Korean culture that is now forbidden. When World War II comes to Korea, Sun-hee is surprised that the Japanese expect their Korean subjects to fight on their side. But the greatest shock of all comes when Tae-yul enlists in the Japanese army in an attempt to protect Uncle, who is suspected of aiding the Korean resistance. Sun-hee stays behind, entrusted with the life-and-death secrets of a family at war.

The Diary of Ma YanMa Yan and Pierre Haski

In a drought-stricken corner of rural China, an education can be the difference between a life of crushing poverty and the chance for a better future. But for Ma Yan, money is scarce, and the low wages paid for backbreaking work aren't always enough to pay school fees . . . or even to provide enough food for herself and her family.

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I am Malala (Young Reader's Edition)​​Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai was only ten years old when the Taliban took control of her region. They said music was a crime. They said women weren't allowed to go to the market. They said girls couldn't go to school. Raised in a once-peaceful area of Pakistan transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. So she fought for her right to be educated. And on October 9, 2012, she nearly lost her life for the cause: She was shot point-blank while riding the bus on her way home from school. No one expected her to survive. Now Malala is an international symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Recommendations For Rising 8th Grade Choice Books See the Resource List in Destiny for Reviews!

Dystopian/ Fantasy/ Science Fiction:

Aveyard, Victoria. Red Queen. HarperTeen, an Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015.In a world divided by blood--those with common, Red blood serve the Silver-blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities--seventeen-year-old Mare, a Red, discovers she has an ability of her own. To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. But Mare risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard --a growing Red rebellion--even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction.

Bardugo, Leigh. Shadow and Bone. New York: Henry Holt, 2012.Orphaned by the Border Wars, Alina Starkov is taken from obscurity and her only friend, Mal, to become the protegé of the mysterious Darkling, who trains her to join the magical elite in the belief that she is the Sun Summoner, who can destroy the monsters of the Fold.

Cameron, Sharon. The Forgetting. Scholastic Press, 2016.Every twelve years the town of Canaan erupts into chaos and violence, after which the citizens undergo the Forgetting, but Nadia discovers she still has her memories and is determined to put an end to the Forgetting.

Charbonneau, Joelle. The Testing. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, c2013.Sixteen-year-old Malencia (Cia) Vale is chosen to participate in The Testing to attend the University; however, Cia is fearful when she figures out her friends who do not pass The Testing are disappearing.

Clare, Cassandra. City of Bones. 1st Simon Pulse ed. New York : Simon Pulse, 2008, c2007.Suddenly able to see demons and the Darkhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is drawn into this bizzare world when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a monster.

Clare, Cassandra. Clockwork Angel. New Yor : Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010.When sixteen-year-old orphan Tessa Fell's older brother suddenly vanishes, her search for him leads her into Victorian-era London's dangerous supernatural underworld, and when she discovers that she herself is a Downworlder, she must learn to trust the demon-killing Shadowhunters if she ever wants to learn to control her powers and find her brother.

Gagnon, Michelle. Don't Turn Around. New York: Harper, 2013.After waking up on an operating table with no memory of how she got there, Noa must team up with computer hacker Peter to stop a corrupt corporation with a deadly secret.

Garber, Stephanie. Caraval. Flatiron Books, 2017.Believing that she will never be allowed to participate in the annual Caraval performance when her ruthless father arranges her marriage, Scarlett receives the invitation she has always dreamed of before her sister, Tella, is kidnapped by the show's mastermind organizer.

Graceffa, Joey. Children of Eden: A Novel. Keywords Press/Atria, 2017.In a future defined by environmental devastation and the all-seeing EcoPanopticon, Rowan, an illegal second child, rebels against an impossible choice by escaping her home for a night of both friendship and tragedy.

Lu, Marie. Warcross. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2017. (or any series by Lu)When teenage coder Emika Chen hacks her way into the opening tournament of the Warcross Championships, she glitches herself into the game as well as a sinister plot with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

Meyer, Marissa. Renegades. New York: Feivel and Friends, 2017. (or the Lunar Chronicles series)In a ruined world where humans with extraordinary abilities have become the world's champions of justice, a vengeance-seeking girl and a justice-seeking boy team up against a villain who has the power to destroy everything they have worked to protect.

Riordan, Rick. The Red Pyramid. New York: Disney/Hyperion Books, 2010.Brilliant Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane accidentally unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes the doctor to oblivion and forces his two children to embark on a dangerous journey, bringing them closer to the truth about their family and its links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.

Riordan, Rick. The Lost Hero. New York: Disney/Hyperion Books, 2010.Jason, Piper, and Leo, three students from a school for "bad kids," find themselves at Camp Half-Blood, where they learn that they are demigods and begin a quest to free Hera, who has been imprisoned by Mother Earth herself.

Rutkoski, Marie. The winner's curse. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014.An aristocratic girl who is a member of a warmongering and enslaving empire purchases a slave, an act that sets in motion a rebellion that might overthrow her world as well as her heart.

Stiefvater, Maggie. The Raven Boys. New York: Scholastic Press, 2012. (or any series by Stiefvater)Though she is from a family of clairvoyants, Blue Sargent's only gift seems to be that she makes other people's talents stronger, and when she meets Gansey, one of the Raven Boys from the expensive Aglionby Academy, she discovers that he has talents of his own--and that together their talents are a dangerous mix.

Tahir, Sabaa. An ember in the ashes. New York, N.Y.: Razorbill, 2015.Laia is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.​Historical Fiction:

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Chains. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2008.After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War.

De la Cruz, Melissa. Alex & Eliza: a Love Story. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2017.When Alex and Eliza meet one fateful night, so begins an epic love story that would forever change the course of American history.

Elliott, Laura. Hamilton and Peggy!: a Revolutionary Friendship. Katherine Tegen Books, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2018.In the throes of the Revolutionary War, Peggy Schuyler finds herself a central figure amid Loyalists and Patriots, spies and traitors, friends and family. Among those friends, she develops a relationship with Alexander Hamilton, who becomes romantically involved with her sister Eliza.

Godbersen, Anna. Bright Young Things. New York: Harper, 2010.In the spring of 1929, eighteen-year-old Cordelia Grey and her stage-struck friend Letty Larkspur run away from their small Ohio town to seek their fortunes in New York City and soon find themselves drawn into situations and relationships, particularly with the dazzling Astrid Donal, that change their lives forever.

Hiranandani, Veera. The Night Diary. Dial Books for Young Readers, 2018.Shy twelve-year-old Nisha, forced to flee her home with her Hindu family during the 1947 partition of India, tries to find her voice and make sense of the world falling apart around her by writing to her deceased Muslim mother in the pages of her diary.

Pinkney, Andrea D., and Shane Evans. The Red Pencil. Little, Brown and Company, 2014.After her tribal village is attacked by militants, Amira, a young Sudanese girl, must flee to safety at a refugee camp, where she finds hope and the chance to pursue an education in the form of a single red pencil and the friendship and encouragement of a wise elder.

Sepety, Ruta. Between Shades of Gray. Philomel Books, 2011.In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil.

Yolen, Jane. Mapping the Bones. Philomel Books, 2018.In Poland in the 1940s, twins Chaim and Gittel rely on each other to endure life in a ghetto, escape through forests, and the horrors of a concentration camp.Mystery/ Horror:

Armentrout, Jennifer L. Don't Look Back. Hyperion, 2014.Seventeen-year-old Sam seems to have everything until she and her best friend, Cassie, disappear one night and now Sam has returned with amnesia, striving to be a much better person and aware that her not remembering may be the only thing keeping Cassie alive.

Carter, Ally. Heist society. New York : Disney/Hyperion, 2010. A group of teenagers uses their combined talents to re-steal several priceless paintings and save fifteen-year-old Kat Bishop's father, himself an international art thief, from a vengeful collector.

Henry, April. Girl, Stolen. Henry Holt, 2010. (Sequel: Count All Her Bones or any April Henry Book)When an impulsive carjacking turns into a kidnapping, Griffin, a high school dropout, finds himself more in sympathy with his wealthy, blind victim, sixteen-year-old Cheyenne, than with his greedy father.

McManus, Karen M. Two Can Keep a Secret. Delacorte Press, 2019.While true-crime aficionado Ellery and her twin brother are staying with their grandmother in a Vermont community known for murder, a new friend goes missing and Ellery may be next.

McNeil, Gretchen. Ten. Balzer Bray, 2012.Ten teens head to a house party at a remote island mansion off the Washington coast . . . only for them to picked off by a killer one by one.

St. Claire, Roxanne. They all fall down. Delacorte Press, 2014.Kenzie's life is transformed when she is voted one of the prettiest girls at Vienna High, but when the girls on the list start to die, Kenzie is determined to uncover the deadly secrets of the list before her number is up.

Tucholke, April Genevieve. Between the devil and the deep blue sea. New York : Dial Books, 2013.Violet is in love with River, a mysterious seventeen-year-old stranger renting the guest house behind the rotting seaside mansion where Violet lives, but when eerie, grim events begin to happen, Violet recalls her grandmother's frequent warnings about the devil and wonders if River is evil.

Vance, Talia. Spies and prejudice. New York: Egmont USA, 2013.Berry Fields's life working for her dad's investigation firm and searching for clues to her mother's death unravels when gorgeous Tanner arrives in town and changes everything.

Realistic/ Contemporary Fiction:

Alexander, Kwame. Solo. Blink, 2017.Seventeen-year-old Blade endeavors to resolve painful issues from his past to navigate the challenges of his former rockstar father's addictions, scathing tabloid rumors, and a protected secret that threatens his own identity.

Buxbaum, Julie. What to Say Next. Delacorte Press, 2017.When an unlikely friendship is sparked between relatively popular Kit Lowell and socially isolated David Drucker, Kit asks David for his help figuring out the how and why of her father's tragic car accident.

Han, Jenny. Burn for Burn. New York: Simon & Schuster BFYR, c2012.Three teenaged girls living on Jar Island band together to enact revenge on the people that have hurt them.

Jones, Jenny B. I'm So Sure. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009.When Bella's stepfather participates in a reality television show, the entire family gets involved, and as her less-than-perfect life goes on public display, she must rely on her Christian faith while she investigates a mystery involving the prom, deals with her returning ex-boyfriend, and negotiates an awkward relationship with the irritating yet attractive editor of the school newspaper.

Haddix, Margaret P. The Summer of Broken Things. Simon & Schuster/BFYR, 2018.Fourteen-year-old Avery Armisted and sixteen-year-old Kayla Butts, once good friends, begrudgingly travel to Spain together for a summer vacation where they uncover a secret their families kept hidden from them their entire lives.

Lockhart, E. We Were Liars. Delacorte Press, 2014.Spending the summers on her family's private island off the coast of Massachusetts with her cousins and a special boy named Gat, teenaged Cadence struggles to remember what happened during her fifteenth summer.

McGee, Krista. First Date. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, c2012. The last thing Addy Davidson wants is to be on a reality TV show where the prize is a prom date with the President’s son. She’s focused on her schoolwork so she can get a scholarship to an Ivy League college, uncomfortable in the spotlight, never been on a date, and didn’t even audition for it. Addy’s totally out of her comfort zone but that may be right where God can show her all that she was meant to be. This is a Christian Fiction trilogy.

McGee, Krista. Right Where I Belong. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, c2012. After her father's third divorce, seventeen-year-old Natalia decides to move with her stepmother, Maureen, from Spain to Florida to learn more of Maureen's faith and to discover who she is away from her father's expectations. This is a Christian Fiction trilogy.

Philbin, Joanna. The Daughters. Little, Brown, 2010.In New York City, three fourteen-year-old best friends who are all daughters of celebrities watch out for each other as they try to strike a balance between ordinary high school events, such as finding a date for the homecoming dance, and family functions like walking the red carpet with their famous parents.

Watson, Renée. Piecing Me Together. Bloomsbury, 2017.Tired of being singled out at her mostly-white private school as someone who needs support, high school junior Jade would rather participate in the school's amazing Study Abroad program than join Women to Women, a mentorship program for at-risk girls.

Zappia, Francesca. Eliza and Her Monsters. Greenwillow Books, 2017.Eighteen-year-old Eliza Mirk is the anonymous creator of Monstrous Sea, a wildly popular webcomic, but when a new boy at school tempts her to live a life offline, everything she's worked for begins to crumble.

Romantic Beach Reads:

Elkeles, Simone. How to Ruin A Summer Vacation. Woodbury: Flux, c006.When sixteen-year-old Amy, a spoiled American, goes to Israel for a three-month summer vacation with a father she barely knows, she is not prepared for his Jewish family and the changes they bring about in her life..

Finn, Katie, author. Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend. First edition.Devastated after a painful breakup, Gemma faces a Hamptons summer near a former best friend she wronged years earlier, a risk that compels her to assume a different identity and pursue a relationship with her former friend's brother.

Lee, Stacey. The Secret of a Heart Note. Katherine Tegen Books, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2016.An aroma expert embarks on what she fears will be a life of solitude, and dreams of a normal high school existence before an accident leads to an unexpected forbidden romance.

Menon, Sandhya. When Dimple Met Rishi. Simon Pulse, 2017.When Dimple Shah and Rishi Patel meet at a Stanford University summer program, Dimple is avoiding her parents' obsession with "marriage prospects" but Rishi hopes to woo her into accepting arranged marriage with him.

Matson, Morgan. Since You've Been Gone. Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2014.Quiet Emily's sociable and daring best friend, Sloane, has disappeared leaving nothing but a random list of bizarre tasks for her to complete, but with unexpected help from popular classmate Frank Porter, Emily gives them a try.

Novak, Ali. My Life with the Walter Boys. Sourcebooks Fire, 2014.Devastated when her parents are killed in a car accident, sixteen-year old Jackie moves from New York City to Colorado to live with her mother's best friend, who has twelve children, including two boys who start to show an interest in Jackie that goes beyond brotherly.

Novak, Ali. The Heartbreakers. 2015.When her triplet sister Cara's diagnosed with leukemia, eighteen-year-old Stella puts her deams on hold to move home and be with her family, but when she starts spending time with the lead singer of Cara's favorite band, will Stella resent him for taking her attention away from her sister--or will he help Stella find the courage to live her own life?

Philbin, Joanna. Rules of Summer. Poppy/Little, Brown and Co., 2014.Spending the summer working as an errand girl for the Rule family in the Hamptons, seventeen-year-old Rory befriends the family's teenaged daughter and develops feelings for their older son, but she finds that societal rules can be hard to break.

Smith, Jennifer E. Windfall. Delacorte Press, 2017. (or any Jennifer Smith book)Alice loves Teddy, her best friend, but has never told him. When she buys him a lottery ticket that turns out to be a winner, their lives are changed forever and their friendship is put to the ultimate test.

West, Kasie. Lucky in Love. Point, an Imprint of Scholastic Inc., 2017. (or any book by Kasie West)Maddie is a hard working high school senior, waiting to hear from the colleges she applied to, when on a whim she buys a lottery ticket and wins; suddenly she is the center of everybody's attention, including her struggling family, and not necessarily in a good way--only Seth Nguyen, her charming coworker at the local zoo, seems oblivious to her luck, and Maddie is not sure whether telling him will change their developing relationship.